Weaning Week: When To Wean Your Baby

Welcome to the first post of my ‘Weaning Week’ series. This week I will be posting everyday, covering the topics of how to wean, when to do it and even getting some of the experts involved.

So this is probably the question that I posed to other mums the most. When do I wean my baby? How do I know if she’s ready? The truth is you probably won’t know for sure if it’s the right time to wean or not, so you just have to look out for the signs. I noticed my baby girl wasn’t settling like she normally did after her night feed. From process of elimination, I put it down to her needing foods as well as breast milk. The first thing I tried her on was Avocado, because it tastes rich and creamy like milk. I left it in front of her to see what she would do, but I think she struggled to grasp it because of the slippery texture, so I held it for her while she gnawed on the edges. The first few times she spat it out, as she hadn’t learnt how to slowly but I took it at her pace and continued to repeat the same steps until she realised that she could swallow.

The health visitors will tell you to wait until your baby is 6 months. My health visitor was pretty adamant on this, but every baby is different and if they are showing the signs that they are ready to start weaning then I would suggest giving it a go. As I have mentioned before, health visitors always think they know best, but they can only offer you the information that they have been given- which as we know isn’t tailored to our child and therefore isn’t necessarily what we as mothers think is best for them. Weaning used to take place when babies were a lot younger-my mum weaned me at 4 months old- so it can’t cause any harm to try it in my opinion.

I began the weaning process when my baby girl was almost 5 months old. I tried her on fruits for the first few weeks, then tried some food pouches with mixed ingredients. She did have a bit of a tummy ache in the third week of weaning, so I gave her a few days without anything, and then when trying again I made the quantities smaller. I allow her to take the lead and can usually tell when she’s had enough; if playing with the food interest her more than eating it. I am not an expert AT ALL, to tell you the truth I’m winging most parts of motherhood-this included. But I am having fun exploring different foods with her.